Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

[HOOats]

Possible trading skinner deadline ? He really sucks

Yeah he was invisible last night.

 

[Jim Bob]

Highly doubt he’d to waive to go anywhere.

This

Given the full NMC and his history of only being open to waiving his previous NTC for Buffalo or Toronto to be close to his family in the Toronto area, I would be surprised if he were open to being traded. And that is because there is next to no way I see Toronto trading for him given their cap situation.

To make a Skinner to Toronto deal work, the Sabres would have to retain a ton on the remaining 3 years and change left. I just don't see the Sabres doing that.

 

[BFLO]

Okposo and Girgensons were brought back mainly for their leadership.

They felt the rest of the roster was not ready yet to lead the team. And how things have gone this season, that seemed to be a correct call...

With how things have gone this season it doesn't seem like Okposo or Girgs were the right guys to lead this team either. We're 7th from the bottom.

 

[Jim Bob]

With how things have gone this season it doesn't seem like Okposo or Girgs were the right guys to lead this team either. We're 7th from the bottom.

Things could always be worse.

This team is too young and inexperienced. Making them younger and less experienced was unlikely to make things better.

 

[TageGod]

Meanwhile we're paying Okposo 2.5m, Girgs 2.5m, Jost 2.0m, Clifton 3.3m and EJ 3.5m. Under those circumstances 2.4m for Hathaway sounds like an improvement.

Hathway brings about as much offense as Girgs, and he's about the same at 5v5 defense, and better on the PK. (yes he'd be better on the pk than 35 year old Okposo)

But more importantly he's the kind of player who extracts a physical price from the opposition. Which this team entirely lacks.

10M in cap space comes free after this season. We can buy ALL the cheap grinders.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Okposo and Girgensons were brought back mainly for their leadership.

They felt the rest of the roster was not ready yet to lead the team. And how things have gone this season, that seemed to be a correct call...

He also thought those two along with EJ were adequate for team leadership, which seemed to be the incorrect call. They may be good leaders, but they're either a different type of leader than this team needs, or plain just not good enough.

I personally think you need at least 2-3x as many quality vets. The team is not even close to having enough experience or leadership.

 

[BFLO]

Things could always be worse.

This team is too young and inexperienced. Making them younger and less experienced was unlikely to make things better.

I agree that making them less experienced wasn't the way to go.

But bringing back the same ineffective vets, who have never gotten it done, was also not the way to make things better.

 

[Jim Bob]

I agree that making them less experienced wasn't the way to go.

But bringing back the same ineffective vets, who have never gotten it done, was also not the way to make things better.

And replacing Okposo or Girgensons with a guy like Hathaway is unlikely to have made things better, either.

The issues with this roster are bigger than who is playing on the 4th line.

He also thought those two along with EJ were adequate for team leadership, which seemed to be the incorrect call. They may be good leaders, but they're either a different type of leader than this team needs, or plain just not good enough.

I personally think you need at least 2-3x as many quality vets. The team is not even close to having enough experience or leadership.

I think the much bigger issue that who is on the 4th line were things like who was replacing Quinn until he was back, who is Power's D partner, and who is the #1 goalie.

IMO, those were the hard decisions that Adams punted on during the offseason that had a much bigger negative impact on the team's results than punting on replacing the 4th line veteran leaders.

 

[Gras]

Or Adams re-signed Okposo/Girgs/Jost on or before day 1 of UFA and decided he was done with forwards for the offseason and never even talked to a guy like Hathaway.

If Adams had any intention of improving the make up of the bottom 6 over the offseason he wouldn't have re-signed those 3, let alone re-sign 2 of them before UFA even opened.

Adams said he was talking to a F and they chose a deal from another team

 

[debaser66]

And replacing Okposo or Girgensons with a guy like Hathaway is unlikely to have made things better, either.

The issues with this roster are bigger than who is playing on the 4th line.


I think the much bigger issue that who is on the 4th line were things like who was replacing Quinn until he was back, who is Power's D partner, and who is the #1 goalie.

IMO, those were the hard decisions that Adams punted on during the offseason that had a much bigger negative impact on the team's results than punting on replacing the 4th line veteran leaders.

the biggest mystery is still why all signed core players regressed at the same time.
neither Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin, Tuch or Samuelsson had a good start to the year or are still playing way below their level mostly.
Power regressing a bit could be expected, I guess they are asking too much too soon and he shouldn't play as minutes.
Given that the Levi experiment failed and Adams didn't do nothing about the 3 goalies situation.
I would say his roster management was more than questionable this season, 11/7 and stuff.
Who is responsible for the scouting stuff, can Adams just hire more Pro scouts or is this on PEgula?

 

[TehDoak]

the biggest mystery is still why all signed core players regressed at the same time.
neither Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin, Tuch or Samuelsson had a good start to the year or are still playing way below their level mostly.
Power regressing a bit could be expected, I guess they are asking too much too soon and he shouldn't play as minutes.
Given that the Levi experiment failed and Adams didn't do nothing about the 3 goalies situation.
I would say his roster management was more than questionable this season, 11/7 and stuff.
Who is responsible for the scouting stuff, can Adams just hire more Pro scouts or is this on PEgula?

That isn’t a mystery. They overachieved last year.

Lots of guys got paid.

 

[Jimmybarndoor2]

And the Sabres did nothing, expecting to improve internally on increased experience alone, and they are worse than last year’s team and behind more teams. What‘s your point?

That doing some things don’t actually help and they pissed away assets for nothing other of saying we did something.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Canucks fan here.

Im just curious, who are the most expendable pieces/players you’d be most interested in dealing in exchange for whatever we have?

We’ve got some good role type of guys (Mikheyev/Aman/Suter/Lafferty/Hoglander) and some decent defensive prospects (Brzustewicz (RHD), Elias Pettersson (we call him D-Petey), and McWard RHD)

I would assume Quinn/Peterka/Power/Benson/Kulich/Dahlin/Thompson/Samuelsson are pieces unlikely to be moved.

Then there’s Mittlestadt/Cozens/Joker/Krebs that you’d guys would probably be more willing to trade for some roster help.

Would you guys do: Mikheyev, Aman, Brzustewicz and Podkolzin for Cozens and Krebs?

Mikheyev/Aman are speedy forecheckers who are good defensively and PK. Brzustewicz leads the OHL in points as a defenseman but with Hronek/Willander, he won’t get the best opportunities and is better used as a trade chip. Podkolzin is near NHL ready and brings a different element to your group as a north south power forward that plays a crash and bang style.

 

[OkimLom]

That doing some things don’t actually help and they pissed away assets for nothing other of saying we did something.

That's the wrong way to look at things.

Of course you have to have a plan, and you should have an idea where your improvements need to come from and you need to have an idea of what is missing. The quality of management, their vision for their team, the archetype of player that fits on their roster all have more of an impact of the result moreso than whether or not you did something.

If you have incompetent management, or you have a team that is built not to win, and you target players to fit that sort of roster, then more than likely it's going to fail, even if the intentions are rooted in a confidence those moves will help, and are not being done so for the sake of saying "we did something". Here's a hint, most moves are done under the assumption that the move will improve or help improve the organization in some way. As much as fans want to say "so-and-so, did a move just to say they did something" that's more than likely not the case.

Coming to the conclusion that signing vets, or trading off assets to get a young player as a whole is something that doesn't actually help dismisses the times it has worked out for competent organizations that knew what players fit their successful rosters. Handcuffing yourself because you see bad teams making poor moves, and thinking to yourself, that the sort of moves don't work, is an easy step to take to make sure you will never be successful.

 

[Jimmybarndoor2]

That's the wrong way to look at things.

Of course you have to have a plan, and you should have an idea where your improvements need to come from and you need to have an idea of what is missing. The quality of management, their vision for their team, the archetype of player that fits on their roster all have more of an impact of the result moreso than whether or not you did something.

If you have incompetent management, or you have a team that is built not to win, and you target players to fit that sort of roster, then more than likely it's going to fail, even if the intentions are rooted in a confidence those moves will help, and are not being done so for the sake of saying "we did something". Here's a hint, most moves are done under the assumption that the move will improve or help improve the organization in some way. As much as fans want to say "so-and-so, did a move just to say they did something" that's more than likely not the case.

Coming to the conclusion that signing vets, or trading off assets to get a young player as a whole is something that doesn't actually help dismisses the times it has worked out for competent organizations that knew what players fit their successful rosters. Handcuffing yourself because you see bad teams making poor moves, and thinking to yourself, that the sort of moves don't work, is an easy step to take to make sure you will never be successful.

Oh ok I see thanks for the hint

Or maybe the secret is to grow within until you are a player or two away and not piss it away too early.

 

[OkimLom]

Oh ok I see thanks for the hint

Or maybe the secret is to grow within until you are a player or two away and not piss it away too early.

Or have a competent management team that knows what a good hockey player looks like, and what makes a good team, and have a set of standards that produces success, and know how to manage assets to always search out good players. It's never too early to get good players on your team.

 

[Beerz]

Canucks fan here.

Im just curious, who are the most expendable pieces/players you’d be most interested in dealing in exchange for whatever we have?

We’ve got some good role type of guys (Mikheyev/Aman/Suter/Lafferty/Hoglander) and some decent defensive prospects (Brzustewicz (RHD), Elias Pettersson (we call him D-Petey), and McWard RHD)

I would assume Quinn/Peterka/Power/Benson/Kulich/Dahlin/Thompson/Samuelsson are pieces unlikely to be moved.

Then there’s Mittlestadt/Cozens/Joker/Krebs that you’d guys would probably be more willing to trade for some roster help.

Would you guys do: Mikheyev, Aman, Brzustewicz and Podkolzin for Cozens and Krebs?

Mikheyev/Aman are speedy forecheckers who are good defensively and PK. Brzustewicz leads the OHL in points as a defenseman but with Hronek/Willander, he won’t get the best opportunities and is better used as a trade chip. Podkolzin is near NHL ready and brings a different element to your group as a north south power forward that plays a crash and bang style.

You can have Krebs for free.

Doesn't make sense to move Cozens at this time.

 

[KrakenSabresMike]

Canucks fan here.

Im just curious, who are the most expendable pieces/players you’d be most interested in dealing in exchange for whatever we have?

We’ve got some good role type of guys (Mikheyev/Aman/Suter/Lafferty/Hoglander) and some decent defensive prospects (Brzustewicz (RHD), Elias Pettersson (we call him D-Petey), and McWard RHD)

I would assume Quinn/Peterka/Power/Benson/Kulich/Dahlin/Thompson/Samuelsson are pieces unlikely to be moved.

Then there’s Mittlestadt/Cozens/Joker/Krebs that you’d guys would probably be more willing to trade for some roster help.

Would you guys do: Mikheyev, Aman, Brzustewicz and Podkolzin for Cozens and Krebs?

Mikheyev/Aman are speedy forecheckers who are good defensively and PK. Brzustewicz leads the OHL in points as a defenseman but with Hronek/Willander, he won’t get the best opportunities and is better used as a trade chip. Podkolzin is near NHL ready and brings a different element to your group as a north south power forward that plays a crash and bang style.

Don’t think our teams are a good match - we have no need for a volume or picks based trade - we need something like mitts + a pick or prospect for a better player. So the opposite of what you’re looking for

 

[HOOats]

You can have Krebs for free.

Doesn't make sense to move Cozens at this time.

Definitely cannot have Krebs for free.

We're so spoiled by young talent around here that we take him for granted, but he's a top 10 u23 player in most orgs. I just don't like his fit here amongst all our other youth.

Over the summer there should have been a vet 3/4 C for Krebs deal. Now I have no idea.

 

[Beerz]

 

[LemonSauceD]

Don’t think our teams are a good match - we have no need for a volume or picks based trade - we need something like mitts + a pick or prospect for a better player. So the opposite of what you’re looking for

that’s the thing. We have a lot of depth guys that are more or less expendable and a couple of middle 6 guys that can produce some offense and defense, but the problem is you can’t just dump guys with value like Cozens or Mittlestadt for them, it’s just bad asset management.

So then you’d have to include some actual prospects and picks which you guys don’t need more of (unless of course you do a prospect for prospect trade like a forward for a RHD prospect) to get the proper value in them in return.

I guess the idea behind my proposal is that you get some good middle 6 guys with a bit of term and you also get some decent prospects that better fit the organizational structure (a lot of your forward prospects are pretty much the same types) and you can use those forward prospects to get some really good players like Konecny, Pinto, Schmaltz, Necas, etc or defenseman like Carlo, Chychrun, Chabot, Moser, Schneider etc.

Even if we aren’t good trading partners; I can’t help but think doing this with another team that potentially has better defensive prospects/middle 6/role guys would be better for the Sabres in the long run. It’ll take a couple of trades though and some time.

Definitely cannot have Krebs for free.

We're so spoiled by young talent around here that we take him for granted, but he's a top 10 u23 player in most orgs. I just don't like his fit here amongst all our other youth.

Over the summer there should have been a vet 3/4 C for Krebs deal. Now I have no idea.

Krebs is interesting to me. He’s a player stuck behind some real good offensive talent and you can’t exactly justify having him take up the minutes that Peterka and Quinn get. But unlike those players, Krebs is much more amendable, he’s got some good characteristics and other attributes to play a bottom 6 type of game, but I just don’t know if it’s possible with the Sabres. Krebs certainly has value though.

 

[Sombastate]

Just curious if the Tage injury is a legitimate injury. A lot of my hockey teammates are Sabres fans so I try to keep up

 

[Chainshot]

I hear what you’re saying, but honestly, is Greenway-Girgensons-Okposo really that bad? To me that’s a pretty solid 4th line. And the top-9 is filled out too. Replace Olofsson with Kulich next year and I like the forward lines.

I swear looking at your roster on paper the biggest hole is #3D. Maybe the coaching/ system is a bigger issue, but adding a puck moving d would do wonders at both ends of the ice imo. If Poser could find his groove and the second pair becomes a strength it will have a big impact. Then, once you address that and have playoff caliber d you can start upgrading the bottom-6. And I don’t think you need the Coleman’s that cost a 1st. I think a Jake Evans from MTL for example would be a fantastic fit. Maybe Parker Kelly from Ottawa.

Then, if you’re still not having success, you consider flipping one of the higher-paid forwards and a blue-chip prospect or two for an upgrade.

It's that the line you mention isn't the 4th line, that's more like the third. Last year the Girgensons-Krebs-Okposo trio was really their third line and whoever Jost was centering was the 4th. At times this year, similar until Jost was sent packing. They regularly had a trio of non-contributors. Now with Quinn returning and Mittelstadt emerging as their leading scorer, they've had the ability to have four functioning lines and it becomes a matter of who or what comes out to improve. One of those guys could be Krebs. Similarly, Okposo is essentially cooked.

Just curious if the Tage injury is a legitimate injury. A lot of my hockey teammates are Sabres fans so I try to keep up

Yeah, he's getting imaging done so he's probably out for a bit -

 

[Chainshot]

More on Tage -

 

[Chainshot]